Syrian Rebel Victory a Matter of When, Not If, Odierno Says--------------------------------------------------------------------"From what I've seen, they have made some significant gains," Odierno said of the rebel fighters. "Their controlling the territory makes you think it's going to be difficult for the regime over time to survive."[http://www.usnews.com/…/syrian-rebel-victory-a-matter-of-wh…]

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

"That has coincided with talk of creating an Israeli buffer zone inside Syria,"that's about as much into the fantastic as Seumas Milne goes this time, though everything he says is questionable in objectivity. The crux of his argument, they are all as bad as each other, is a lie. This was a peaceful revolution, which became an armed rebellion when the government starting shooting demonstrators a lot, and while Assad receives tonnes of Russian weaponry each week, the rebels get a little from the Gulf and nothing from the US. It is only the combination of naked brutality and the staying power of an inherently sectarian state that has got Assad this far, some rebalancing of the military struggle in favour of the Syrian people is the way to end the conflict."The consequences for Syria have been multiple massacres, ethnic cleansing, torture, a humanitarian crisis and the risk of the country's breakup. The longer the war, the greater the danger of a Yugoslavian-style fragmentation into sectarian and ethnic enclaves. The Assad regime bears responsibility for that, of course. But so do those who have funded and fuelled the war, bleeding Syria and weakening the Arab world in the process."

The current suggestion that Syrian rebels might have used chemical weapons (why on Earth would they want to, when did these attacks take place, why haven't they been reported except to Carla del Ponte, etc.?) remind me of the propaganda the Chinese government uses to distort reporting of its oppression in Xinjiang.'Hou Hanmin, director of the Xinjiang government's propaganda department, said Tuesday's clashes began as officials described as community workers searched homes for weapons.She told the BBC's Chinese service that three of the workers were killed as they were investigating reports of suspicious individuals at the home of a local resident.Unarmed police then arrived to investigate the workers' earlier reports and were attacked, said Ms Hou. Three "thugs" died and nine police officers were cornered in a house which was then set on fire, she said, calling the incident a "planned terrorist attack" on innocent victims.'

Monday, 6 May 2013

"The idea that the US wants to support these Islamists but is pretending not to is nothing but a fantasy indulged in by parts of the left who have decided to throw their lot in with the reactionary dictatorship of Assad."